An Explosive Touch
by electricbanjo
Summary: Konoha has at long last produced another shinobi capable of applying a seal from scratch on any surface with a mere touch. Pity the only seal he knows how to make is an explosive tag.
1. Chapter 1

Author note:

This is my first attempt at writing fanfiction. I'm still figuring out how to format stuff to use with this site, and I'm in the process of editing to try and improve the format of my story.

It seems I should probably also make a disclaimer that I don't own the material this is based on (I don't). I hope this falls under fair use.

* * *

Iruka was having a good day. As he entered his apartment and started warming some sake he reflected over the events of today's classes. Normally he would spend a large amount of the day dealing with the behaviour of his most easily distracted student, Uzumaki Naruto, but during the history class about the 4th Hokage, Naruto had been enraptured by the discussion.

Iruka had told of the 4th's battle with the Raikage and his brother, an intense clash of speed where the 4th had come out on top with his signature jutsu, and a cleverly applied seal. Rather than just gushing about his hero, Naruto had kept asking questions about hiraishin, and the seal that was used for it, and how it was applied.

It had ended up being a much more academically in depth discussion than was usual for a class of typically ambivalent pre-teens, and the fact that the driving force in the discussion had been Naruto was a very pleasant surprise. As such, Iruka had humoured him more than he typically would, and had talked about seals at length.

They'd discussed how seals are made using special chakra infused ink with special paper. They'd talked about the different sorts of seals that could be made. But what really seemed to have captured the kid's attention was that the 4th had been able to make the seal on any surface with just his own chakra.

Here Iruka had tried to let him down gently. The 4th had been a once in a generation genius capable of applying seals in such a way. Some Shinobi, like the Sannin, were capable of manipulating seals without ink or paper, or could manipulate other substances like poisons to create specific seals. The 4th was the only shinobi in living history capable of casually creating a seal with a simple touch.

Nevertheless, Naruto hadn't been discouraged. Instead he jumped on top of the desk and loudly proclaimed that not only was he going to be the next Hokage (his usual claim), but he was going to be the next shinobi to be able to make seals by touch, and that he was going to surpass the 4th.

Iruka allowed himself a smirk as he savoured a sip of sake. That had been the return to the Naruto he knew all too well. But at least that shift back into character hadn't lasted long. After the class finished, Naruto had asked for help regarding where to find information about sealing, and Iruka had pointed him toward the library. With a level enthusiasm and energy that Iruka wondered whether he could ever muster, Naruto had raced off toward the library.

If this sudden shift toward diligence were to continue, the next few weeks of class could be interesting.

xXxXx

The next few weeks didn't really live up to Iruka's hopes, but neither were they as bad as they could be. Instead of being his usual bundle of disobedience and frustration, Naruto had been unusually quiet, and, well, tired. Whenever he came into class (which was usually late), he would barely respond to Iruka's admonitions. Sometimes he would even fall asleep in class. Iruka didn't really pay it too much heed - at least he wasn't distracting the rest of the class like normal.

However, after 3 or 4 weeks Iruka noticed that not only was Naruto coming in exhausted, but his clothes were increasingly dishevelled, and he was often covered with cuts and burns. After a week of this, there was a day that Naruto simply didn't turn up. This warranted action, and it was with no small sense of trepidation that Iruka approached Naruto's apartment to check on him.

Iruka knocked on the door. "Naruto? Are you there?"

After a minute that seemed like much longer than it really was, Naruto replied "Coming, Iruka Sensei!"

Iruka paused in slight confusion. He'd come expecting something bad, but something about Naruto's voice sounded triumphant. He wondered what it could be.

Naruto swung open the door in a hurry and exclaimed "I did it, Iruka Sensei!"

"Did what?" Iruka replied in continued confusion.

"I made a seal with just my touch!"

This increased Iruka's confusion further. How could his most difficult student, the bottom of the class, have mastered something many considered to be impossible? After a moment, he managed to tactfully ask "how did you manage that, Naruto?"

"I did what you said Iruka Sensei! I went to the library, and got all the books on sealing they would let me take." Naruto paused for a moment before continuing "the librarian was really mean, but he still let me take the books."

So far this seemed reasonable, but it in no way explained Naruto's exhaustion over the last few weeks. If Naruto had a defining feature, it would be that he has far too much energy, Iruka mused. "So then what did you do" Iruka probed.

"I worked really hard! Every Night! I went to the store, but I couldn't afford any of the sealing paper and ink, so I figured I'd just start out by figuring out how to make seals by touch."

Now this really boggled Iruka's mind. Firstly, sealing supplies were actually pretty cheap in Konoha stores. The Hokage had organised subsidies so that anyone who wished to learn the sealing arts could. Sealmasters were rare, and highly valued. The village actively tried to encourage anyone that wanted to increase their sealing capabilities.

"The first few seals in the books were boring," Naruto continued, "so I skipped through till I found explosive seals."

At this point, Iruka suffered a moment of panic. Despite being one of the most commonly used forms of seal, explosive tags weren't exactly simple to make. For a student to start out with trying to make explosive seals, and without the appropriate ink and paper... not only should it be impossible, the chance of something going wrong when you're trying to make explosive tags made it a highly dangerous thing to learn. "Don't tell me you started there, Naruto. Explosive tags are really dangerous, and really hard. Even I can't make them. You should start with something much simpler than that, like a storage seal. I'll buy you some sealing ink and paper so you can get started."

"But I did it Iruka Sensei! I can make explosive seals!"

What followed was something that shocked Iruka to his core. The failure, the bottom of the class, casually crossed the room, picked up a dinner plate with his left hand, touched it with his right index finger (at which point Iruka could faintly see channelled chakra), gently tossed the plate to a vacant corner of the room before it exploded, sending shrapnel all through the room. Iruka barely dodged it, but a couple of pieces nicked Naruto's arms.

"WHAT THE HELL, NARUTO!"

"But Iruka sensei, you just saw, I did it!"

"THAT WAS FAR TOO DANGEROUS NARUTO!"

"Yeah, it is pretty dangerous. I hurt myself a few times before I figured out how to control the timer on it."

"YOU COULD HAVE KILLED YOURSELF!"

"Nah, I recover quickly. The burns are mostly healed after a night's sleep."

"Naruto, you're very lucky you didn't kill yourself. What you've done is _incredibly_ dangerous. Explosive tags can be lethal. Promise me that you won't use this again unless you're in a situation where you need to kill someone!"

"But Iruka..."

" _Promise me_!"

"Ok, I promise. but..."

"And don't tell ANYONE you can do this. Promise me that too."

"Awww, Iruka Sensei..."

"Naruto!"

"Ok, I promise. But why can't I use it to show off how awesome I am?"

"Naruto, this sort of ability is rare, and very dangerous. If people know you can do this, all sorts of trouble could come from it."

"Ok Iruka sensei. I promise I won't tell anyone."

"And you won't use it unless it's a life or death situation?"

Naruto looked glum. "Yes Iruka Sensei."

Reading the situation, Iruka quickly thought about how best to make it up to Naruto. "Ok, how about I buy you some ramen for dinner to celebrate your achievement though."

Naruto's usual grin quickly returned to his face. "Ramen!"


	2. Chapter 2

Author note:

So yeah, this is my first attempt at writing fanfiction. I'm still figuring out how to format stuff to use with this site. I'll probably go back and edit the formatting of chapters when I figure more out.

It seems I should probably also make a disclaimer that I don't own the material this is based on (I don't). I hope this falls under fair use.

I hope you all enjoy the story, and I look forward to any feedback.

* * *

Naruto was very excited.

Today was the day the the new genin teams would be announced. It could have been a very sad day for him, because he'd failed the initial graduation exam, but after the events of last night, with Mizuki's betrayal and his learning of the shadow clone technique, Iruka Sensei had passed him and given him his own forehead protector!

Naruto hoped he would be in Sakura's team. She was very pretty and Naruto hoped that she'd be his girlfriend some day, despite the fact that she'd simply hit him whenever he'd asked her out. Being on her team would be so awesome, he'd be able to ask her out every day!

He also hoped he wouldn't be on that dick Sasuke's team. Stupid prick always though he was better than everyone else, just cause he was a precious Uchiha (and had better grades than everyone else, but such details escaped Naruto's attention).

Naruto put on his jumpsuit and forehead protecter, quickly ate his breakfast and rushed off to the academy. Today was going to be a great day. Iruka was going to put him on the perfect team (he hoped) and he was finally going to show everyone how awesome a ninja he was.

In his excitement, he actually arrived at the academy before anyone else. He quickly chose the seat next to where Sakura usually sat - oblivious to the fact that the reason she sat in that seat is because Sasuke would usually sit where he was. Then started the not-so-patient wait for all the other students, and of course, Iruka Sensei.

Naruto thought about making some shadow clones to send to Iruka to hurry him up, but got distracted from those thoughts when the other graduates from his academy class started to arrive. First to arrive was Sasuke, who immediately demanded Naruto vacate HIS seat.

"Screw you Sasuke, I want to sit here so I can sit next to Sakura!"

"I don't care where she sits. That's my seat. I sat there every day in the academy for the last few years!"

"Yeah? But now it's my turn."

"Really? What are you even doing here you loser? You didn't even pass the graduation exam"

"I did so! Iruka gave me his own forehead protector!"

"Hnn. I'll believe it when I see it. You should still get out of my seat, loser."

At this point, the other members of the graduation class had started to arive. Kiba just started laughing his ass off at the confrontation - he enjoyed seeing both Sasuke and Naruto get taken down a peg. Hinata purposely sat as far away from the confrontation as possible, quietly hoping that Naruto would give up on the argument and sit next to her instead.

Just as the argument was escalating further, Sakura and Ino ran into the room - both looking a bit puffed as though they'd been racing each other. "What are you doing in Sasuke's seat, Jackass?" Sakura exclaimed upon seeing Naruto arguing with Sasuke.

"Yeah, you should get out of his seat and move over so I can sit next to him!" Ino yelled.

This slightly dampened Naruto's mood. Sakura didn't want to sit next to him, she wanted to sit next to Sasuke. He jumped up onto the desk in front of Sasuke and looked him clossly in the eye. The Uchiha and the Uxumaki glared at each other intently, until the student that had sat down in front of them finally noticed the commotion, and turned around - in the process, knocking Naruto forward, with his face bumping into Sasuke's.

A moment passed, during which both Naruto and Sasuke both realised they were effectively kissing each other. After that tense moment, the two students both reacted in disgust, jumping back and trying to spit the ickyness out of their mouths, while the girls that had been vying for Sasuke's attention over the last few years reacted in anger at Naruto for stealing their beloved Sasuke's first kiss.

Before Naruto could receive too many bruises, Iruka burst into the class.

"Quiet down, everyone and take a seat. That includes you Naruto! I don't care what arguments you got into this morning, sit down."

The class gradually settled.

"Today marks an important day for your shinobi careers" continued Iruka. "You will be asigned your genin team, and your jounin sensei. These people will become like family as you complete missions together. You will live together, fight together, and bleed together. Konoha has a proud history of teamwork."

As the lecture droned on Naruto looked around him rather than paying attention to Iruka Sensei. Most of the people from his class seemed to be here, in particular all of the kids that came from clans. As he observed each of the other students, he determinedly thought to himself that he would show them all that he was a more awesome shinobi than any of them!

Finally, Iruka started reading out the new Genin teams. Naruto sat impatiently during the first 6 team announcements. When it got to team 7, Iruka finally got to the names he was interested in.

"Team 7 will be Haruno Sakura, Uzumaki Naruto..."

Naruto yelled out excitedly while Sakura looked glum.

"and Uchiha Sasuke."

Naruto and Sakura swapped their expressions. 'Why do I have to be on the same team as that jerk Sasuke' Naruto thought to himself.

Meanwhile, Sasuke didn't really pay heed to who he was stuck on on a team with. He just silently fumed about being stuck on a team with these other losers at all. They would surely interfere with achieving his goals.

In his frustration with being on the same team as Sasuke, Naruto barely noticed the rest of the team announcements. Now was the time to wait for their jounin sensei.

'I hope he's awesome' Naruto thought, 'I need a really awesome sensei because I'm going to be such an awesome shinobi!' Meanwhile Sakura was just giddily thinking about how much time she'd get to spend with her crush, and Sasuke just tried to ignore all the other newly minted genin around him.

The jounin sensei for the new teams gradually came through over the course of the next 10 or so minutes, each taking their team off for a team meeting. Except for the sensei of team 7 of course. After half an hour, Uchiha Sasuke was slightly peeved, Haruno Sakura was getting irratible (Naruto's requests for dates weren't helping) and Uzumaki Naruto was getting more and more impatient.

After two hours, Sasuke and Sakura's moods had both soured slightly further, but Naruto was fuming.

After 3 hours, Naruto decided that he needed to do some form of prank against their new sensei for being so late. Looking around, he saw the chalkboard eraser and simply went for one of the oldest tricks in the book, jamming it at the top of the door. Ignoring his teammates protests that such a simple trick would never work on a jounin he set up the prank and waited considerably more patiently at his desk.

When their new sensei, Hatake Kakashi, finally arrived at the classroom he opened the door and felt the eraser land on his head. Naruto cracked up laughing, while Sakura apologised profusely and Sasuke's mood just considered to sour.

"My first impression is... I don't like you. Meet me on the roof in 5 minutes."

* * *

"Right, let's see what we've got. Introduce yourselfs. Tell me your likes, dislikes, dreams, whatever."

Somewhat perturbed at such a vague introduction Sakura piped up "why don't you show us how it's done, sensei?"

Inwardly sighing at the lack of initiative of genin these days, Kakashi began "My name is Hatake Kakashi. I have some likes, and some dislikes. I don't really feel like telling you about my dreams. Your turn."

What followed was somewhat predictable, based on the research Kakashi had done. Sakura mostly seemed to want to be a shinobi to impress her crush, Sasuke. In turn, Sasuke mostly wanted to avenge his clan, and seemed to hold his teammates with little or no regard. Naruto was predictably excited with loud claims about becoming Hokage, along with declaring a love of ramen. Getting these three to work as a team would prove to be very troublesome indeed, but as always that would be the crux of his test.

Kakashi, as always, took great pleasure in telling his new genin team that they weren't really genin yet. The indignant yells were always so gratifying, despite being completely predictable. After leaving them with the basic instructions of where and when the test would be (along with some comments intended to scare them) he quickly departed, heading home via the memorial stone.

* * *

"YOU'RE LATE!" was the satisfying yell from Kakashi's three genin as he casually walked into the clearing at the training ground, a mere 3 hours after the supposed test starting time of 7AM. This was going to be fun.

"Hellloooo my cute little genin. Today we are doing our survival test. Your task is to take one of these two bells off me before noon. If you can't get a bell, you'll be sent back to the academy."

The claims of injustice that followed never failed to disappoint.

"But sensei, we passed! I can't go back to the academy, I'm a ninja now! Naruto yelled.

Kakashi, taking note that Naruto had said 'I can't go back to the academy' rather than 'we can't go back to the academy' simply replied "well you better make sure you get a bell then" with a smile that was obvious, despite being hidden behind a mask.

All this was too much for poor Naruto. He immediately charged at Kakashi, but for a jounin the movement was all too easy to avoid. In the blink of an eye, he was behind Naruto with a kunai held to Naruto's throat.

"A little hasty there, but at least you have the right idea. None of you will have any chance of getting a bell, unless you come at me with the intent to kill. The test starts... NOW!"

Any doubt about the jounin's abilities for having fallen for Naruto's trap the day before were immediately disolved. The three genin quickly scrambled out of the clearing for cover as the test started.

* * *

All three genin now had a healthy fear about their futures. Well maybe not all. Sakura was mostly worried about being sent back to the academy rather than being able to continue being on a team with Sasuke, although she was confident she could at least do better than Naruto.

Sasuke perhaps read the situation clearer than the others, being more keenly aware of how far out of their league the jounin was. He was also excited - if this jounin was this strong, then surely they could help him defeat Itachi.

Naruto, on the other hand, was fixated on a single statement. "None of you will have any chance of getting a bell, unless you come at me with the intent to kill."

 _Come at me with the intent to kill._

'Promise me that you won't use this again unless you're in a situation where you need to kill someone!'

On the one hand, Naruto didn't actually want to kill his new sensei, so it seemed like he would be breaking his promise to Iruka if he used his explosive seals.

On the other hand, his new sensei had told him that he would only have a chance of passing if he treated it as a life or death situation.

Arrrgh! Why does it have to be so hard?

After a few moments thought (a difficult thing for Naruto) he came to the conclusion that Kakashi Sensei had given him permission to use the explosive seals. He was going to give this his all!

* * *

Kakashi glanced around him, before pulling an orange book out of his pocket and starting to read. It's not like genin could ever seriously challenge him anyway, so he may as well give them at least a smidgen of a chance. While (apparently) focusing closely on his favourite book, he took note of his surroundings.

Sasuke and Sakura had both hidden themselves well - at least well enough that another genin wouldn't be able to detect them. Naruto, on the other hand had just jumped down into the clearing, yelling out challenges at him.

Sigh.

He'd really hoped for better from his sensei's son, but based on the academic reports he should have expected this. Time to show some simple taijutsu and put Naruto in his place.

As Naruto charged forward Kakashi simply blocked all of the attacks with his free hand, before sending Naruto flying into the nearby lake with a simple chakra reinforced kick. How low were the academy standards these days?

What followed was the first surprise of the day for Kakashi. Rather than a single Naruto coming out of the lake, several did. 'When did Naruto learn the shadow clone technique?'

Nevermind, it's not like the greater number of Narutos could do anything to him, right?

Unfortunately for Kakashi, there was a second, much nastier surprise in store for him. He went to engage in what he figured would be some nice simple taijutsu with a bunch of Naruto clones, doing a few blocks with his free arm and with his legs.

Then his glove exploded. And his Sandals. And his pants, in several places where he had blocked Naruto's attacks.

As the concussive impact and the beginning blood loss sapped him of conciousness, all Kakashi could think was "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!?"


	3. Chapter 3

Author note:

Here's the next quick update. I'll probably take longer to follow up, but I wanted to get the story to this point.

I'm not sure what's normal for this site, this being my first story and all, but I really appreciate the people that have already reviewed/favourited/followed so soon after the publishing. I'm keen to hear any feedback.

Obligatory I don't own these characters.

* * *

"Could you please explain to me how one of my best jounin got put in hospital by a freshly minted genin?"

Iruka looked up at the Hokage, very obviously nervous. If it were any more obvious, his pants would have been wet.

"I made him promise to never use that technique..." he nervously replied.

The Hokage simply rested his elbows on his desk, and his chin on his hands. "Elaborate."

There was no need for the Hokage to use an angry tone. His anger was rightly assumed, and even when there was no emotion in his voice, it still held authority. This was the side of the Hokage that Iruka desparately tried to avoid.

Gulping, and thinking about were to start, Iruka considered his mistake. Yes, he'd made Naruto promise not to tell anyone about his explosive seal capabilities, but at the same time he'd also neglected to tell anyone about it himself.

On the one hand, it could be viewed as good - keeping teacher/student confidentiality and all that.

On the other hand, he really should have let the Hokage know that Naruto had achieved a task most thought impossible. And Kakashi was now in hospital, in a serious condition due to that neglect.

"Well, I guess it began when I gave a lecture about the 4th Hokage and his roll in the world ninja wars."

"Continue." responded the Hokage, quite plainly unsatisfied so far.

"I mentioned that the the 4th could plant a Hiraishin seal with a single touch, and used it to defeat the Raikage and his brother. Naruto got very excited and started asking lots of questions about seals."

Iruka glanced up at the Hokage, waiting to if there would be another response at this point. Seeing nothing being ventured, he continued.

"I sent him to the library with instructions on where to find information about seals. Over the next few weeks, he figured out how to make explosive tags on his own, and because he couldn't afford sealing ink and paper, he did it all with his own chakra and touch."

At last the Hokage responded. "So you're telling me that a mere academy student, using only the information he could find in library books, managed to teach himself how to make explosive tags? Not only this, he learned the entire process using just his chakra, with no sealing supplies?"

"Yes, Hokage sama."

"And how long ago was this?"

"Two and a half years, Hokage sama."

"And you didn't think that such a rare and unusual achievement should be reported to the Hokage?"

"I'm sorry, Hokage sama."

Sarutobi Hiruzen, the 3rd Hokage, looked closely at Iruka. It was very plain that the man was genuinely sorry. And scared. Very scared of the consequences of this particular failure on his part.

"You know, I would struggle to believe you if it hadn't been for Naruto's incident with the forbidden scroll. Learning the shadow clone technique within a couple of hours is something that would normally be deemed impossible, but he managed. I guess Naruto looks to be making a habit of achieving the impossible."

Iruka looked up nervously, wondering whether the calmness of the reply meant he was out of the woods. He turned his face down again when the Hokage continued.

"But now, because Kakashi wasn't made aware of Naruto's full capabilities, he is in hospital. I'm told he will be in there at least a month, more likely two. And now I'm left with a genin team without a sensei, who missed out on the chance to complete their true genin exam."

"You aren't going to penalise the student's are you, Hokage sama?"

Hiruzen smiled at the response. At least Iruka's heart was still in the right place - he genuinely cared about the students. "Of course not" he replied. "They will still be trained by Kakashi, when he recovers. And in a way, they did pass Kakashi's test. Naruto retrieved the two bells, and in his worry about his sensei he gave them to his teammates while he rushed Kakashi to the hospital. Giving the bells to his teammates exhibited the teamwork that Kakashi was looking for."

Iruka felt a sense of relief. Naruto was far from his best student, but he had gradually come to be his favourite. Iruka would have felt so guilty if Naruto's shinobi career was cut short because he had failed to tell the Hokage about the paperless seals. However, his relief was cut short.

"But they will still need someone to train them in the interim" the Hokage continued. "And you and I both need to have a long talk with Naruto. Do you realise the destructive power we've created?"

"I don't follow" Iruka replied.

"We now have a shinobi that can make over a thousand shadow clones, if your report about the fight with Mizuki is correct. And every single one of them can create an explosive tag, on any surface, with a single touch."

The enormity of that statement took a while to sink in to Iruka's head. His most disruptive student, and arguably Konaha's worst prankster, now had the destructive power to destroy a city at his disposal.

From just two techniques.

Well, two techniques and a serious overload of chakra.

I guess that's not too unbelievable, Iruka mused with a sardonic grin. After all, Naruto did have a beast capable of destroying cites sealed inside him.

Iruka's musing was cut short by another statement from the Hokage. "After we've both talked to Naruto, you are going to train team 7 until Kakashi recovers. You will be removed from the academy for the time being."

Iruka grimaced. While he did like the opportunity to spend more time with Naruto, he really did love his job teaching at the academy. And he also wasn't so confident about taking on the next step in a genin's education.

"And you will report ALL progress with each of the genin directly to me. I don't want any more surprises like the one we let Kakashi stumble into."

* * *

Naruto stared idly into his bowl of ramen. As much as he loved Ichiraku ramen, he couldn't fully enjoy it while he felt so guilty.

"Cheer up Naruto! I can't have my best customer looking so glum!" Teuchi, the ramen chef, yelled from the kitchen.

Naruto smiled sadly in response. "But I broke my promise to Iruka sensei, and someone got hurt as a result."

"Perhaps I can cheer you up a bit" came a familiar voice from behind Naruto.

Turning around, Naruto saw Hiruzen and ran up to him to give him a hug. "Jiji! I'm so sorry I hurt Kakashi sensei! I should never have broken my promise to Iruka sensei."

"It's alright Naruto. These things happen. All shinobi take up the job knowing that they could get injured in the line of duty, and Kakashi knows that better than most" Hiruzen replied with a smile. "How about you tell me the full story, and I'll buy you another bowl of ramen?"

"Sure thing Jiji!"

Hiruzen sat down next to Naruto and ordered a bowl of ramen for each of them.

"So what made you decide to use the explosive seals, Naruto?"

"Kakashi sensei said that if we wanted to pass, we had to come at him like we were going to kill him. I didn't want to hurt him, but he said that's the only way we could pass! And Iruka said I could use them if it was a situation where I needed to kill!"

Hiruzen smiled at the genuine concern from the genin. As the leader of a village of shnobi, he so often had to deal with people who kept their true agenda hidden, even if they supposedly were his friends and his allies. Spending time with Naruto was always a refreshing pleasure for him - no one else he'd ever met was so genuine and honest.

And reflecting on the effort that it must have taken to learn shadow clones so quickly, and to learn to make those contact explosive seals, Hiruzen also noted that he'd never copme across anyone as truly driven as Naruto was. Sure Naruto was easily distracted, brash, and a bit dim at times, but he tried harder than anyone else.

He truly was a great shinobi in the making, even if most of the village didn't know it yet. Maybe he would eventually achieve his dream of becoming Hokage after all.

Hiruzen replied "You did what is right, Naruto. Kakashi simply underestimated you. You've got a couple of abilites that no one would expect someone your age to have."

"I know, I'm really awesome, right?"

"That you are, Naruto. That you are. But you have to be careful. You don't want too many people to know what you can do."

"Why? Shouldn't I tell everyone how awesome I am?"

Hiruzen smiled at Narutos desire to brag. "You know you're awesome, and I know you're awesome. Shouldn't that be enough?"

Naruto let the disappointment in his face show, which just amused Hiruzen even more.

"Besides, consider this. As a fresh genin, you were able to beat a jounin because he had no idea what you were capable of. Had he known about your seals, you wouldn't have had a chance at beating him."

Nartuo frowned before the Hokage continued. "When you're doing missions outside of the village, you will find yourself in battles that are genuinely life or death situations. If your opponent has heard about the genin from Konoha that can put an explosive tag on you with a single touch, they'll try much harder to avoid it, and it'll be much harder to beat them. You want all your abilities to be a surprise to your enemies."

"Wow Jiji, you're so smart!"

"Of course he is, that's why they call him the professor" came another voice, as Iruka entered Ichiraku Ramen. "A bowl of mizu ramen thanks, Teuchi."

"Coming right up."

"Sorry for breaking my promise to you, Iruka sensei" Naruto said as Iruka sat down next to him and the Hokage.

"It's alright. Kakashi would have wanted you to show your best, and that you did" Iruka replied with a smile.

"So what happens now? We got the bells, but Kakashi sensei is in hospital, and the doctors won't even let me visit him."

"It's alright Naruto. I'll be training team 7 until Kakashi gets better. And perhaps we can see if we can find some even more awesome techniques for you to learn.

"Yatta!" came the reply from Naruto.


	4. Chapter 4

Author note:

So we've had Iruka and the Hokage's response to team 7's exam, now to get the response from Naruto's teammates.

All too often in Naruto fanfiction, Sakura and Sasuke get reduced to caricatures of their worst respective traits. They won't be the main characters in this story, but they will still be developed as characters. Besides, they provide a useful lens through which to observe Naruto.

Obligatory I don't own these characters.

* * *

Sasuke was finding it hard to concentrate on his training. He was just practicing different kicks and punches against a wooden post at this point, something he'd spent a lot of time doing in the past. It just couldn't hold his attention when there was a genuinely bizarre situation to consider, like the one he found himself in now.

Back when his parents had been alive, they'd impressed on him how the village jounin were the elite of the elite, and Uchiha jounin even more so. But Kakashi was just plain confusing.

On the one hand, his motions at the start of the ill fated bell test had shown him to clearly be leagues beyond Sasuke and his peers. The speed with which he moved behind Naruto with a kunai to his throat boggled the mind. His first bit of combat in which he sent Naruto flying into the lake had clearly shown his superiority too - it was like he didn't have to put in any effort at all to beat Naruto.

But beyond that, things stopped making sense. Why would the elite of the elite turn up late for everything? Why would they fall for simple pranks like Naruto's chalkboard eraser setup on the team announcement day? How could someone who was supposedly so skilled be put in hospital by a genin?

Sasuke frowned, before angrily putting substantially more chakra and strength into his next kick, cracking the wooden post and sending out a shower of splinters from the point of impact. Moving on to the next post, he considered what was the most frustrating and confusing question of all next.

How the hell did Naruto, the failure, the loser, the bottom of the class, get strong enough to put a jounin in hospital? What were the techniques he even used?

The clones were the first confusing thing. Naruto had never been able to make decent clones in class, and it had caused him to fail the graduation exam more than once. Hell, didn't he fail the most recent one too? But lo and behold, out of the water came multiple clones- and from the ripples in the water that formed around them as the surfaced, Sasuke could tell they were solid, rather than just being illusions.

Solid clone techniques were supposed to be much higher ranked jutsus than what genin had access to. Sure, he had one or two higher ranked fire jutsu, but that was the heritage of his clan, and he'd worked hard to learn those. Naruto seemed to have learned a clone technique overnight.

Then came the explosions. Explosive tags would have made sense, but surely Kakashi would have seen them, and avoided them. Hell, surely Sasuke would have seen them - he'd been watching that fight very closely, looking for a gap in which to attack. Naruto hadn't had anything in his hands, or in the hands of his clones. And he certainly wasn't the sort of shinobi that could easily hide and deploy explosive tags from his sleeves.

Naruto's response to beating Kakashi surprised him as well. Rather than being elated by his victory, and proceeding to boast about it as loudly as possible, his face had shifted to one of immeasureable guilt. Sasuke was sure he heard Naruto muttering about breaking his promise to Iruka.

Naruto had then thrown the two bells at him and Sakura, before picking up Kakashi and racing him to hospital. He'd so casually disregarded the test after beating Kakashi, because of how he'd beaten Kakashi. Meanwhile, Sasuke had looked on with mounting frustration, and Sakura had looked on with horror.

Sasuke allowed himself a smirk, remembering Sakura's horrified "what if he does that to me the next time I punch him?"

Anyway, dwelling on all of this was getting him nowhere. Apparently the other genin teams that had passed had already started doing missions. Sasuke needed to move on and start getting stronger, if he were to have any chance of killing his brother and avenging the Uchiha. And just hitting logs over and over until they broke wasn't really helping - he needed real opponents, opponents that moved, opponents that actually provided at least some form of threat.

He needed to prove himself. Like Naruto had apparently done.

That's when it dawned on Sasuke - if by using whatever attack it had been, Naruto had apparently broken a promise to Iruka, then Iruka must know what the technique was. And if Iruka knew, maybe Sasuke could convince their academy sensei to teach him too.

With a sudden burst of motivation, Sasuke raced off to find Iruka.

* * *

Meanwhile, Sakura's contemplations dwelled less on what had actually happened during the test, and more on what it meant for her future as a kunoichi.

As an academy student, she had always taken great pride in her knowledge. She always topped all the history and theory exams. And while she hadn't performed particularly well in the various combat and weapon tests, and she'd always taken solace in the fact that at least she always did better than Naruto.

Naruto. The idiot that kept pestering her for dates. The idiot that never seemed to understand anything Iruka sensei said, and would always ask stupid questions.

Nartuo. The idiot that would always loudly claim that he was going to win the next fight with Sasuke, and would always end up with his face in the dirt.

Naruto. The idiot who had singlehandedly put their jounin sensei in hospital, and shown that he might in fact be stronger than both Sakura and Sasuke.

The idea of being injured by Naruto to the extent of being put in hospital was not a pleasant one. But Iruka sensei had always said that to be a shinobi was to put your life and limbs on the line. Injuries weren't just a possibility with this job, they were basically guaranteed. Was she really ready to enter a profession in which she might get seriously hurt, or maybe even die? Was her crush on Sasuke important enough to her that she would shoulder that risk in order to be with him?

Having seen first hand how even an elite jounin could be so greatly injured, Sakura really didn't know any more.

So she was at home, moping. Hoping that someone else would somehow magically make everything better.

And hoping that all the times she'd been mean to Naruto wouldn't come back to haunt her.

Sakura's reverie was disrupted by a knock at the door. "Coming!" she yelled as she raced down the the stairs.

To her delighted surprise, Sasuke was there, waiting for her. But in a way, he barely acknowledged her, simply saying "Iruka wants to see us at the academy." No 'hi Sakura,' no 'how are you doing, Sakura,' just a simple statment of what they needed to to.

Oh well. It's not like Sakura had really come to expect any more from him. But she still hoped. Trying to get a read on Sasuke's stoic face, she asked "what does he want to see us about?"

"I'm not sure. I went to ask him some questions about Naruto, and he just said to fetch you while he fetched Naruto."

Awkward silence resumed.

"Do you think we passed the test, Sasuke?"

The answer was a mere grunt.

'I guess I'm not the only one who's been left thoughtful after the test,' Sakura considered. 'After all, I don't imagine that Sasuke liked being shown up by Nartuo.'

They continued the rest of the walk in silence, as they gradually made their way to the academy. Sakura couldn't help but notice the various civilians going about their daily business, seemingly with none of the self doubt she was currently feeling. Wistfully, she wondered if the life of a civilian might be a better option for her.

The life expectancy would certainly be higher.

Upon reaching the academy, Iruka sensei greeted them with a cheery hello. Their old classroom was empty aside from Naruto and their teacher, which confirmed that this must be the meeting about the future of her team that she had been dreading.

"Come in, and sit down." Iruka's cheery smile and demeaner wasn't matched by his students, but that didn't surprise him in the slightest.

As such, Iruka figured he might as well get straight to business. "So, after your test a couple of days ago, the Hokage and I have spent a lot of time discussing what to do with team 7."

Looking around, Iruka saw Naruto smile, presumably recalling the discussion at Ichiraku Ramen yesterday. Meanwhile, Sakura looked nervous, and Sasuke exhibited a hint of curiousity.

"It has been decided that team 7 has passed their test, and will begin to take on missions as of tomorrow."

"But Sasuke and I didn't even do anything!"

Iruka smiled. "While the test certainly didn't go as planned, Kakashi learned more from each of you than you might have thought. However, ultimately, it was Naruto's actions after Kakashi lost conciousness that passed you."

The three genin looked around, confused, while Iruka continued.

"The bell test is one of the oldest graduation exams in Konoha's traditions. The idea is to test whether a group of genin can put aside their differences and work as a team. After defeating Kakashi, Naruto gave both the bells to the two of you, so that you could pass, while he made Kakashi's health and survival his priority."

"I talked to Kakashi in the hospital this morning. He told me to tell you this: In the world of Ninja, those who break the rules are trash But those who abandon their teammates are worse than trash. I hope that all three of you really take that to heart."

At that point Sasuke piped up with the question he'd obviously been itching to ask all day. "But how did Naruto beat Kakashi anyway?"

Fortunately, Iruka had anticipated this. Before Naruto could begin his enthusiastic reply Iruka shushed him and stated "The Hokage and I have decided that the technique Naruto used should be kept a secret, right Naruto?"

Naruto looked down. "Yes Iruka sensei."

This obviously did not satisfy Sasuke's curiousity. "How did Naruto get a secret technique?"

"Well Sasuke, given your clan background, surely you have one or two techniques you haven't told us about" Iruka replied with a smirk. Before Sasuke or Sakura could bring up Naruto's status as an orphan, Iruka quickly continued. "The technique Naruto used will be classified as a forbidden jutsu, and he is only allowed to use it in life or death situations. Right, Naruto?"

"Yep!" The big grin had returned to Naruto's face. Obviously the idea of knowing a forbidden jutsu appealed to him.

Iruka figured he should at least placate some of Sasuke's curiousity though. "I can, however, tell you that the clone technique Naruto used was the shadow clone. It's an impressive technique in that it makes solid clones, but for most people it is too chakra intensive to be useful. I would usually recommend waiting until you are at least chuunin before learning it, but for Naruto it's a good alternative to the standard clone jutsu."

Undoubtedly, by providing that much information, Iruka had caused more questions in the young Uchiha's head. Sasuke hadn't earned the rookie of the year title by chance - he was a very driven and inquisitive young shinobi. But the reality of the shinobi occupation is that you often didn't get all the facts, and it was probably a good lesson to get the genin to learn.

"Anyway, as I said before, you will be starting missions tomorrow. And while your jounin sensei recovers from his injuries, I will be filling in for his duties."

"Yay! You're awesome Iruka sensei!" came the gratifying response from Naruto. Sakura and Sasuke were both more reserved.

"I expect to meet all of you by the entrance to the Hokage tower at 8AM sharp tomorrow. Don't be late!"

As Naruto dashed off excitedly, with Sakura and Sasuke following at a more sedate pace, Iruka decided that the meeting was a success. Time to go home for a well earned sake.

* * *

Sasuke watched as Naruto ran further ahead, excitedly yelling about all the training he was going to do tonight for the missions tomorrow. For someone so carefree and excitable, he was becoming more and more of an enigma.

How did Naruto get a forbidden jutsu? Sure, there were a bunch of forbidden jutsu Sasuke might be learning if his parents were around to teach him, but Naruto was an orphan.

The next thought stopped Sasuke in his tracks as he considered the implications. Naruto having a forbidden jutsu meant there was at least one secret about him. What if it wasn't the only one?

His parents had told him to keep away from Naruto as a kid, but had never told him why. Watching as Naruto disappeared into the distance, he noticed the looks of disdain a lot of the vilagers were directing at Naruto. Was there something they knew that he didn't?

Was there something about his heritage that was kept secret? And was that why he had access to forbidden jutsu?

Sasuke started moving again and doubled his pace as he headed back to the Uchiha compound. He might not know that much about Naruto at the moment, but as sure as the Hokage wore a funny hat, he was going to find out what was going on.


	5. Chapter 5

Author note:

D ranks and training begins. The team still needs to check in with Kakashi at some point, which should be fun.

Obligatory I don't own these characters.

* * *

While Iruka was nervous in general about training a genin team, he was very much looking forward to today. He all too clearly remembered his own confusion upon discovering what constituted a D rank mission, along with the frustration it caused him and his teammates.

As he waited at the bakery for a hasty breakfast, he contemplated how to savour the inevitable reactions he would get from team 7 today. The most visibly outraged would no doubt be Naruto, given that he never bothered to hide any of his emotions. Knowing Sasuke, he'd be disgruntled at the waste of time these missions seemed to be. Perhaps the most difficult reaction to predict would be Sakura's.

On the books, Sakura was smart. However, her intelligence largely consisted of regurgitating facts from the textbooks and the notes she'd taken in class. Useful knowledge, no doubt, but it had yet to be tempered by the experience of working as a shinobi.

Perhaps she'd understand the meaning of the seemingly trivial tasks on her own eventually, but probably not right away. It had taken Iruka a few weeks and several hints from his jounin sensei before he'd appreciated their usefulness. Considering who else was in the team, it would probably be prudent to give them more hints so they could figure it out sooner.

Iruka grabbed his sandwich and continued walking toward the Hokage tower at a brisk pace, eating his breakfast as he his watch, he noted that it was 5 to 8, and fortunately he could make out all three of his genin in the distance. That was always a good start for the mission record.

Time to let the fun begin!

* * *

"Whaaaat? Why do we have to do super lame chores for our mission? Shouldn't we be out saving people or something?"

The hokage smiled at the predictable outburst. Like Iruka, he'd been looking forward to this moment. Breaking in new genin never seemed to get old.

"There's very good reason for you to do this mission, Naruto. Not the least of which being the fact that Konoha has been contracted to do it, so it falls upon our new ninjas to pick up these sorts of tasks."

"But Jiji, this is just weeding a garden! Why would they even need our help with that?"

"You never know, Naruto. Maybe they're allergic to the weeds. Maybe they don't like getting their hands dirty."

Sarutobi paused for a moment before continuing. "Maybe they were injured in the line of duty, and can't do the task while they are recovering. No matter what the reason, Naruto, these sorts of missions will still teach you a lot, and as a new genin, you still have a lot to learn.

Naruto humphed at the answer, but quietened down when he processed Hiruzen's comment about being injured in the line of duty. Meanwhile, Sasuke just had a sour look on his face, and Sakura was nervously trying to hide her confusion about what the mission was.

"And remember, when you are doing a mission, whether it be in Konoha or outside her walls, you represent the village. Put your best foot forward, and represent her well."

Sensing the formality in the Hokage's last statement, the genin team replied in unison, "Yes Hokage sama."

Well, except for Naruto, who reluctantly said "Ok, Jiji."

Sighing at the unstopable casualness, Iruka lead the team out the door. Time to see if any of the students had figured anything out while they walked to their first mission.

Sakura was the first to ask a sensible question. "Did you have to do missions like this, Iruka sensei?"

Iruka smiled back at her. "I did indeed, and while I didn't realise it at first, they were very valuable."

Naruto followed up with a much less eloquent question. "Eh?"

Seeing that this was all the articulation he was going to get, Iruka elaborated on his answer. "I actually learned a lot when I was doing D rank missions. Every mission can teach you something."

Iruka paused for a moment.

"Consider what we about to do today. As you said, Naruto, it's 'just' weeding a garden. but what can we learn from it?"

Naruto's face was one of contemplative confusion. Thankfully Sakura interupted with an answer of her own.

"We can learn what the weeds are and what the desired plants are, right sensei? But how does that help us as Ninja?"

"Well, there are some Ninja disciplines that rely on using the properties of different plants. Ninja medics, for instance. Or poison specialists. Even so, that knowledge will be far from the most useful thing you learn today."

Iruka looked around at his students. They were all slightly thoughtful, but none seemed willing to volunteer another answer. Time to give some hints then.

"How many of you have been to the manor we're heading to before?"

Once again, none of the genin volunteered a response. "How much of Konoha are you genuinely familiar with?" Iruka continued. "How well do you know your surroundings?"

At this point Iruka stopped walking, and the genin quickly followed suit. He wanted this next point to be made very clearly.

"If Konoha were to be invaded, how well do you know where shinobi can hide around you? How well do you know where you can set up an ambush? And how can you learn these things unless you spend time in all the areas of Konoha?"

The penny seemed to have dropped for Sasuke and Sakura at this point. New genin were all too used to taking their surroundings for granted. Now, Iruka could see that the two of them were looking around for what might be hidden on this relatively quiet Konoha road.

Naruto still looked confused, but he managed to ask a relatively insightful question. "Can't we just learn that stuff by walking around the village? Why do we have to learn it by doing chores?

Iruka smirked in return. "Being a ninja often requires deception. You want to be keeping aware of your surroundings, but you don't want people to see that you're keeping aware of your surroundings. You have to be able to do it while appearing to simply be doing a mundane task. This is good practice for that, and the various missions we'll do over the next few weeks will give you the chance to try this in different environments."

"While we've been having this conversation, I've been making sure I know what's happening around us. See that tree behind you Naruot? There are three birds nests in it, but only one of them currently has any birds in it. That shop behind you, Sakura? A couple went into it 5 minutes ago, but so far only one of them has come out. If we were in hostile territory, you would be wanting to consider why that is, and if either of them were a threat. Had any of you even noticed that they were there?"

Iruka paused for effect. "A ninja that doesn't stay aware of what's going on around them can quickly become a dead ninja."

Sasuke's impression of his teacher all of a sudden jumped up. Sure, all of this sort of stuff had been talked about in classes, but in the stale environment of the classroom it hadn't really sunk in. Sasuke realised that since they left the Hokage tower, the only thing he'd really paid attention to was the discussion with Iruka. He wasn't expecting any threats here in Konoha, so he wasn't searching for them. Looking around at his teammates, he could see that they were nodding their heads. That said, it was hard to tell if Naruto actually understood, or if he was just pretending to understand.

Either way, Sasuke now realised he actually had a form of training he could do while they were on their mission today. Maybe it wouldn't be such a waste of time after all.

* * *

As they headed back to the Hokage tower, Iruka contemplated team 7's first mission. It wasn't as bad as he might have expected. Sure, Naruto had struggled to identify the desired plants from the weeds, but he hadn't done too much damage before being corrected.

"Right, mission protocol requires that we hand in a mission report. Normally this would just be to an officiating chuunin, but the Hokage likes to oversee the progress of new genin teams. After our report, you have half an hour for lunch, and then we will resume training this afternoon."

Naruto let out a jubilant yell before Iruka could provide the details.

"I want to spend some time working on teamwork exercises first, but after that, I also want to spend some time with each of you individually. This afternoon, I'll begin with you, Naruto. Your taijutsu really needs work."

"Awwww, but sensei, I'm already a really good fighter. Can't you teach me an awesome jutsu instead?"

"Naruto, jutsu are no use if you don't have other skills to back them up. Each of you need to make sure that you stay balanced as a shinobi."

"Look at Sasuke here. He was top of the class because he performed well at all of the different disciplines. You could learn a lot from him."

Sasuke smirked at Naruto's obvious displeasure at the comparison, and Sakura outright laughed, causing Naruto's face to sour even further. What Iruka said next seemed to cheer him up though.

"Besides, the taijutsu I'll teach you this afternoon will work very well with the jutsu you already know."

* * *

So what are you going to show me Iruka sensei? Am I going to break trees with a single hit? Am I going to kick through walls?

"Nope. You're going to learn something much more valuable. How to block."

"Eh!? Why would I need to do that? I heal real quick anyway, I can get up from anything!"

"You might be able to take the hits, Naruto, but your shadow clones can't. And the longer they stick around, the more they can help you."

"But I can just make more whenever I want!"

"Yes, but that wastes chakra."

Naruto looked unconvinced. Time for Iruka to play the trump card.

"Besides, blocking is usually done with an open hand. Something that gives you, in particular, the advantage."

Iruka waited for comprehension to sink in. For someone capable of learning impossible techniques so quickly, Naruto sure could be slow sometimes. Finally the lightbulb must have switched on.

"Ooooohh, my explosive seals. Wow, you're really smart, Iruka sensei!"

Despite it really being a very logical thing to think of, Iruka couldn't help but smile at the praise of his intellect. Teaching Naruto was certainly hard at times, but it really was satisfying whenever something did sink in. This afternoon would certainly prove to be productive.


	6. Chapter 6

Author note:

Time for Kakashi to try to salvage his reputation.

I'd like to thank everyone that's reviewed so far. There's been some great feedback and suggestions, as well as some great encouragement.

I know that my divergence from canon is relatively slow. I want to make sure that it all makes sense, story-wise. I wasn't overly happy with the team selection scene, but it did feel like it needed to be there as part of the setup to the bell test, where the divergence begins to properly take hold.

I'm also trying to avoid cliches, but there are so many in the fanon that sometimes it's hard to remember what's a cliche and what's just being true to the source material. If you do spot any glaring cliches, feel free to (kindly) point out the specific cliches in a review.

Or better yet, if someone were to volunteer to be a beta, I'd have another way of checking for them. They might be able to help me with the best way of formatting for this site too.

Obligatory I don't own these characters.

* * *

Iruka was enjoying teaching a genin team much more than he had anticipated. The extra responsibility and pressure had scared him a bit, but the reality had proved much less daunting.

At last he was able to spend enough time with individual students to really be able to help them. At last he was able to give truly directed advice, rather than having to address the needs of a class as a whole. At last he was able to teach based on the (albeit limited) experience of real (D rank) missions.

Admittedly, a significant reason that the extra responsibility hadn't been an issue was that they had kept to D rank missions, staying inside the village. There was very little chance of a genuine threat to his students, so being a chuunin of limited combat capability didn't provide any problems as team 7 started out their shinobi careers.

Ultimately, that was why genin were assigned jounin instructors. It wasn't because they were better teachers, even if they did technically have more knowledge and expertise they could teach from. But if a mission took a turn for the worse, the jounin sensei was there to take care of things. Most Konoha jounin could happily do A rank missions by themselves, so any mission a genin team was sent on would have to go spectacularly badly for there to be any issues.

Unfortunately, missions going spectacularly badly wasn't all that rare. Iruka certainly hoped that it wouldn't happen too soon for team 7, but he resigned himself to the fact that it would eventually happen. And thankfully, by the time it happened, it would be under Kakashi's watch rather than his own. Apparently the doctors had determined that Kakashi would be ready for duty by the end of the week.

As such, it was now time to begin the transition between senseis. This morning, instead of a D rank mission, team 7 would be doing a hospital visit.

* * *

"What are we doing today, Iruka sensei?"

"Yeah! Let's do an awesome mission and go beat up some bad guys!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes at his teammates' antics. Well, Sakura's query had been fairly innocuous, but it should have been obvious to Naruto by now that they weren't going to get any real missions till they were back to having a proper jounin sensei. Iruka was a good teacher and all, but he'd been teaching at the academy for a long time. Sasuke doubted that Iruka had had any real combat experience in the last several years, and the Hokage wasn't the sort of fool that would send out a full team of people with no recent combat experience into the field.

And given that Kakashi had been stuck in a hospital recovering for the last few weeks, it was likely that the missions would still ramp up very slowly.

What a pain.

Sure he was learning more rapidly than he did at the academy, but he still needed to get some proper experience if he was to have any chance of killing his brother. Spars against Sakura didn't help - she didn't have the strength or stamina to pose any real challenge. Spars against Naruto were better, but they still represented a big problem in his mind.

Every spar, Sasuke would beat Naruto. Every spar, Naruto would complain that we would have won if he had been able to use his special ability. And the infuriating thing was that Sasuke realised he might be right. But as long as Naruto withheld that secret technique of his, Sasuke wouldn't be able to truly see how he matched up.

And Sasuke hated not knowing for certain that he was the strongest on his team. His failure so far to find any background information on Naruto didn't help, either.

He still teased Naruto for losing all the time, and for being bottom of the class in the academy. He had to do something to keep Naruto in his place. But that doubt kept niggling at the back of his mind.

Anyway, even though it was probably going to be another boring D rank, he might as well listen to what Iruka had to say.

"We aren't actually doing a mission today."

Heh. That was new.

"Kakashi sensei has almost finished recovering from his injuries, and he wants to meet up with you all before we transition the leadership of team 7 back to him."

That made more sense. At last, some progress - even if it was only minimal progress.

"So this morning we will go to visit him at the hospital. He'll meet us in one of the meeting rooms in the East wing."

"Does this mean you'll stop teaching us, Iruka sensei?"

Sakura had really relished these last few weeks. Well, she had always been a bit of a teachers pet, so even though she didn't have the same weird camaraderie with Iruka that Naruto had, she still got on with him well. And even though Iruka had made her focus on her lower chakra reserves and stamina, she'd still enjoyed the training.

"Sadly, it does. But don't worry! Kakashi sensei will be a great teacher, and he knows way more than I do. He can do over 1000 ninjutsu!"

"But Iruka sensei, I already beat him! How can I learn off someone I can already beat up?"

Sasuke smirked. Naruto did actually have a decent point there, although the comment about the thousand jutsu intrigued him. "And I can beat you up. Does that mean that I should be the teacher?"

"That doesn't count! You only beat me cause Iruka won't let me show off how awesome I am."

Iruka just smiled at the bickering. On the surface, it seemed like the team might not be getting along, but he could see that this rivalry did have some merits. No doubt Sakura would interrupt to support Sasuke in a moment.

"Idiot! You only beat Kakashi cause you got lucky. Sasuke wouldn't let you beat him like that!"

There we go, just like clockwork. It was going to be fun to see how Kakashi got on with these team.

Especially seen as he'd have to rebuild his respect in the eyes of the genin. Having lost to a genin as a jounin must be a hard thing to stomach.

* * *

"Hello, genin" Kakashi welcomed them with a smile, and gestured to the seats in front of his own. The three genin and Iruka dutifully sat down.

Looking around he saw a belligerant look on Naruto's face, mild condescension on Sasuke's, and a pensive look on Sakura's face. He supposed that was to be expected. the impression left by the bell test had been far from what was desired.

At least Iruka was smiling at him, not that that really mattered. The two of them had actually been meeting up regularly to discuss the team's progress. It was the closest thing to work that Kakashi had been allowed to do, and he had to do something to stop himself from going crazy during this extended hospital stay.

When he finally took over the team, he would get them on a C rank as soon as possible. Iruka had already stolen the fun of seeing them start D ranks, and besides, he needed to get out and stretch his muscles. If he went much longer without a real fight, he's get far too rusty for his liking.

Right, time to salvage what little respect he might currently have from the genin.

"You know, Naruto re-taught me an important lesson during our test."

Kakashi waited a moment, hoping that at least one of the genin would engage with the statement. No such luck today.

"Never, and I mean, never, underestimate your opponent. I severely underestimated Naruto that day."

At this Naruto beamed. Sakura and Sasuke's faces showed they were unimpressed at how obvious the statement was though.

"You wouldn't realise it from that particular day, but I'm actually one of the stronger jounin in the village. I was trained by the 4th Hokage, and I was already a jounin with multiple A rank missions to my name by the time I was your age. However, even the most experienced of shinobi can still make mistakes."

Naruto's face jumped at the mention of his hero, the 4th Hokage. Kakashi could also see rising interest from the other two genin.

"My first mission as a jounin, I made a big mistake. One of my teammates died as a result. I regret that mistake every day of my life."

Kakshi looked intently at the genin.

"My mistake during our test only cost me my pride, and at least we can all learn from it. I thought I had done all of my research going into the test. I thought I knew all of the abilities each of you had, and that I could counter them all with barely any effort. But Naruto here showed me that I didn't have all the facts."

"When I take over leadership of this team, the Hokage will assign us harder missions, missions that will put you in real combat situations. And as much as our village researches the mission parameters, we won't always have all the facts. There will be surprises. Things will go wrong. But when they do, we'll be there as a team, to support each other."

"I'll be taking over leadership of team 7 on Friday. While Iruka has been keeping me updated with the progress you've all been making in your training, I would like to check that progress myself."

Kakashi paused and took in a deep breath.

"But Naruto,"

Naruto looked up expectantly.

"No explosions."

"Awwww. You're no fun Kakashi Sensei!"


	7. Chapter 7

Authors note:

Once again, thanks for all the favourites/follows/reviews. I really appreciate it.

* * *

"Crapcrapcrapcrapcrap!"

Naruto jumped backwards out of the way of the fireball that threatened to engulf him. This wasn't how today was supposed to go!

Ok, sure, Kakashi sensei would want to test them again. And the meanie wouldn't let him use explosive tags this time. But Naruto had been working really hard under Iruka Sensei! He'd gotten way stronger. He'd been sure that he was still going to show off how awesome he was today. He'd still beat Kakashi sensei WITHOUT putting him in hospital with explosions.

Instead, Kakashi sensei had completely shut him down. As soon as he made clones, a rain of shuriken would destroy all of them. Whenever he threw kunai or shuriken, Kakashi sensei would block them all with ease. Whenever Naruto tried to get close enough to engage in taijutsu, Kakashi sensei would force him to retreat with some form of overpowered jutsu.

So far, Naruto had been trapped in the ground, drenched in water, burned a few times, and his hair was even spikier than usual from electric shocks. Kakashi sensei was crazy strong! It wasn't fair.

And even if he had been allowed to use explosions, Kakashi sensei wouldn't even let him get close enough to use them. It was like Kakashi sensei didn't even trust him.

* * *

Sasuke was also having a bad time of it, but at least he was able to appreciate what an elite jounin actually was. Kakashi was well and truly demonstrating that he deserved his rank. He hadn't fallen for any of Sasuke's traps. None of Sasuke's attacks had fazed him in the slightest - even the ones just intended to turn him toward a trap or toward Sasuke's team mates.

Well, those were the only attacks Sasuke could really comment on. There simply weren't any openings for a real attack. Kakashi was too aware of his surroundings. No matter where Sasuke tried to hide, Kakashi obviously knew where he was, and what schemes and traps he'd set up. He even seemed to know all the possible hiding places and ambush spots like the back of his hand. More than once, Sasuke had moved into a location to set up a trap to find a trap already waiting there for him.

The training with Iruka had been pretty good, especially compared to the academy, but this battle was on a different level. Iruka was completely and utterly outclassed by their new sensei.

Now if only he could make some showing for himself as a supposed genius of the Uchiha, then he could just enjoy the satisfaction of knowing that they would soon be learning from a true expert. Until then, he still had something to prove.

* * *

Sakura's rollercoaster of emotions had plumetted back downhill.

The weeks spent doing missions and training with Iruka sensei had been like a dream come true for her. She was learning lots, getting new experiences, and of course she got to spend a lot of time with Sasuke. She'd come round to the idea that she could enjoy shinobi life, and perhaps even be good at it.

But today...

Today she'd been reminded how far she had to go.

Was this really what shinobi were like? Were the people they'd have to fight in higher level missions going to be as strong as Kakashi sensei?

There's no way she could measure up to this, not in a million years! Everything she'd learned in the last few weeks was insignificant in coming up against their new sensei. Attacking from a distance didn't work; her shuriken abilities weren't as good as Sasuke's, and even he couldn't make a single attack connect. Taijutsu was out, as Kakashi simply wasn't letting anyone get close enough to land a single punch.

The one time she'd managed to get remotely close (she was trying to create a distraction for one of Sasuke's attacks) Kakashi sensei had put her under a genjutsu and taken her out of the battle for ten minutes.

Ten minutes during which she could have easily been killed or captured if Kakashi sensei was an actual enemy shinobi.

However, neither Naruto or Sasuke looked like they were going to give up any time soon, so she may as well keep trying. If they still thought that a shinobi career was worth persuing after seeing how far behind their sensei they were, then maybe she could still do it too.

Well, at least Sasuke was smart enough that he'd make a good decision, right? That knucklehead Naruto would keep trying no matter what, when it came down to it.

Just like he still hadn't given up on asking her out on dates. Sigh.

Come to think of it, he could hear him yelling at their sensei now.

"Screw you Kakashi sensei! I'm coming at you with everything I've got!"

Uh oh.

* * *

Naruto had decided he'd had it with this fight, and with Kakashi sensei for not even letting him use his best ability.

It's not like Kakashi had let him get close enough for Naruto to put a seal on him anyway.

Ok. He didn't want to hurt Sakura, and probably shouldn't hurt Sasuke, so he shouldn't throw anything in their direction. But they seemed to be backing off after his yell anyway.

Naruto smirked. Scaredy cats. At least it made this easier.

Hmm, only three shuriken left. He could pick up some of the ones Kakashi threw, but maybe if he made clones where Kakashi couldn't attack, the clones would be able to throw theirs.

Twenty clones with three shuriken each was... well, more than three shuriken. Why did ninja need maths, anyway?

Jumping back behind cover, Naruto made his clones. They quickly got out a couple of shuriken each and started putting seals on them, before jumping from cover and throwing them in the general direction of Kakashi.

It wasn't like being accurate was that important if the explosion was big enough, right? And his clones were putting a lot of chakra into those seals.

Naruto grinned as the explosions began. Broken branches flew everywhere, and all the birds in the training area quickly tried to evacuate.

And that's when he felt the kunai next to his throat.

"That'll do, Naruto. I think I've learned enough from today's training."

 _Gulp_.

* * *

Kakashi looked around at the three genin in front of him.

Today had gone MUCH better. Judging by the expressions on Sasuke's and Sakura's faces, it looked like he was succeeding at repairing his reputation with the team. Naruto was frowning, but that was to be expected.

In fact, pretty much the entire test had gone as he had expected, based on the (now much more reliable) information Iruka had given him regarding the team's progress. All three students had put in a lot of effort, and there had even been some (albeit minimal) attempts at team work. Sakura had tried to use herself as a distraction at one point, and it was the most effective thing she'd done in the test - even if Kakashi had easily shut it down with a genjutsu.

Sasuke had shown good forethought and planning. His attempts to drive Kakashi toward traps and ambushes had been well thought out, even if they were ill fated.

And Naruto. Oh Naruto.

Kakashi had had a lot of fun with Naruto.

It was very evident that the boy didn't enjoy being completely shut down, like he had been. Having every ability met by a well conceived counter. Not even being able to even touch his opponent.

This was of course, all for instructive purposes. An elite jounin would never do such a thing merely for petty revenge. There was of course a higher purpose.

But hey, what's to say he couldn't still enjoy the petty revenge while he was at it, right?

Kakashi knew that Naruto would eventually resort to the explosive tags. The entire fight had been orchestrated to frustrate him to that breaking point.

And by preventing Naruto and his clones from ever getting a chance to touch him prior to that, he had carefully driven Naruto toward attempting a ranged version of his technique.

It really was unexplored territory. No one had really tested Naruto's seals properly yet. Iruka was understandably afraid to do so - the initial discovery of the technique had frightened him to the point where he completely shut down Naruto's sealing, which while somewhat rash, made a lot of sense. Sealing was a dangerous art for a nine or ten year old boy to be working on without appropriate supervision.

It was a pity that Naruto hadn't been pointed toward appropriate supervision before now, but hey, he still ought to have a long and fruitful shinobi career ahead of him.

And besides, there weren't really many people capable of providing that supervision. Kakashi would be able to do a little himself, but he really needed to wait for someone like Jaraiya to be back in Konoha.

Anyway, Naruto had shown some good quick thinking, even if it had been predictable. And now Kakashi knew that

a) Naruto could apply the seal to shuriken  
b) those shuriken could be duplicates from shadow clones, and  
c) Naruto could alter the ammount of chakra used to change the size of the explosion.

Today's explosions had been much bigger than in the first bell test, after all. They'd also been staggered in an interesting way, which suggested that Naruto could adjust the timer on the seal.

The tactical implications of this technique were fairly massive, and while Kakashi could proudly admit that all three members of his team showed reasonable tactical promise, they still had a long way to go. Which brought him to today's take home lessons.

"So, can anyone tell me what Naruto did wrong today?"

Sakura was the quickest to answer. She did like it when it wasn't her own flaws being pointed out, after all.

"He disobeyed your orders about no explosions, Kakashi sensei."

"He did, but I actually forced his hand there. I intentionally drove him toward that."

"Eh?! That's really mean, sensei. Why would you give me an order if you don't even want me to follow it!"

"Because I wanted to make a few points, and Naruto, you illustrated them perfectly."

"What? What points? Why couldn't you be mean to Sasuke to make them?"

"Because currently, you are the only one in this team that has a true trump card."

All three genin looked up at him, waiting for the inevitable explanation. Naruto at least looked somewhat mollified by the comment.

"Your, ahhh, explosive capabilities are something of a secret, beyond this team. Any enemies we encounter on future missions will hopefully have no idea about them, which will give you the chance to surprise them." Kakashi looked at Naruto meaningfully before continuing "like how you surprised me in the bell test."

"Having a good trump card is a very useful thing for a ninja to have. As such, most ninja eventually gather a few into their arsenal. As an Uchiha, Sasuke will likely have the sharingan as a trump card in the future. Sakura, with your chakra control, you show some potential for genjutsu - although there are certainly other avenues for you too. Poisons, for instance."

"But there are some common issues with trump cards - they tend to be do or die. Most ninja don't have enough chakra to perform them more than once or twice in a day, and often have to spend a long time recovering after using them. As such, if your trump card fails, you're most likely going to lose the fight."

"Experienced shinobi like myself are aware of this, and take advantage of it. Fights become a battle of wills, where you are trying to get the other person to misuse their trump card, giving you a clear opportunity to strike."

"Which brings me back to my earlier question. What did Naruto do wrong?"

The penny dropped first for Sasuke. "He told you that he was going to use his trump card."

Kakashi gave a large enough smile to be seen behind his mask. Having a genius on the team really did make things easier.

"Correct. And he then even gave me some time to prepare. Admittedly, it also served well as a warning to his team mates to move back. But by the time you'd finished figuring out how to do your attack, Naruto, I was already right behind you, and you were only attacking a clone. You need to be careful whenever you use a jutsu, otherwise it can be used against you."

"There are only three reasons to let an opponent know what you are going to do. First is that you're so confident that you'll beat them no matter what, so you may as well tell them. Not smart, and I believe this team has already learned the lesson of not underestimating your opponent. The second is that you're such a bad shinobi that you don't know any better. Team 7 is not going to be made of that sort of shinobi."

The three genin all vogiorously nodded their heads.

"The third and most interesting reason is to play mind games with your opponent. The scope here is large. Do you trash talk them to get them angry enough to take chances they shouldn't? Do you let them think you're going to do one thing when you're actually going to do another? Do you force them to bring out their trump card prematurely, leaving you with an opening for victory?"

"Or do you simply let them think that you're a bad shinobi who always announces their intentions, so that they underestimate you - and perhaps fatally so?"

"I want you all to be considering these things in future spars, and when we begin missions outside of the village. Which hopefully will be tomorrow."

"Really, Kakashi sensei? Do you think we're ready?"

"Of course you are! You all did very well in the face of a vastly superior opponent today, so you should be fine. Besides, I'll be there to take care of things if they get a little too hairy."

"Yahoooo! We're going on a mission outside the village!"

Kakashi grinned as his three students went their separate ways. Watching them grow together should prove very interesting.


	8. Chapter 8

Authors note:

Sorry this chapter took so long. I decided not to rehash the wave mission, and it took me a while to plot out my alternative.

* * *

"So I gather you're looking for a C rank mission, Kakashi?"

"Yes Hokage sama. I believe that my genin are ready for it. Iruka here has prepared them well."

Iruka, who was politely waiting at the back of the briefing room, nodded in acknowledgement of Kakashi's compliment.

"That may be so, but you do have to remember the risk of the mission going wrong. I recently had to upgrade a mission from C to A for your friend Gai's team. Gai did manage to gain the bounty for a missing nin from Kirigakure though."

"Good on him, I suppose. But I'll be there if anything goes wrong, and despite my recent recovery period, I know I'm ready for whatever comes."

"Very well. But you know, it's actually been tricky to figure out what sort of mission to give your team. They look to be shaping into a demolition team, but there's not too much need for that outside of war."

Naruto finally chose to interrupt the conversation between his superiors. "Ehhh? What's demolition mean?"

"It means you get to blow stuff up, idiot."

"Screw you Sasuke. But yeah I can do that!"

"Anyway," the Hokage interjected, regaining the attention of the genin. "Most of the currently available C rank teams are more of a diplomatic nature, and I would generally give them to more experienced teams that have learned more tact."

Naruto frowned at the pointed remark.

"That said, I do have a few missives that need to be delivered to Sunagakure, in preparation for the chuunin exams later this year. It might be helpful to let them see that the son of the white fang has taken on a genin team."

"So our mission would just be to deliver some letters?" Sakura inquired.

"In a sense, yes, but there's more to it than that. Suna are our allies, so there should be very little chance of any confrontation. But alliances in the ninja world are tenuous at best, and it helps to remind your allies that you are strong, in order to dscourage them from turning on you. You three are very promising genin, and Sasuke in particular is involuntarily famous as the last loyal Uchiha. As long as you all stay on your best behaviour, and don't accidentally blow anything up..."

Sarutobi let his eyes rest on Naruto, who gulped guiltily.

"...then Konoha should benefit from this mission. More so than if we were to just send a courier or a messenger pigeon."

"Sounds good. We'll take the mission. Sasuke, Sakura, Naruto, go get ready for a two week trip. I'll sort out more details with the Hokage, and we'll leave after lunch. Meet me at the front gate at 1pm."

* * *

Iruka listened politely as Naruto excitedly chittered about getting a chance to go on a mission outside the village. His time filling in as team 7's sensei had now finished, but he didn't think he'd be leaving behind his attachment to the students anytime soon. Even if it meant occassionally shouting Naruto a bowl or two of ramen.

"And it's not just that it's outside the village, Iruka Sensei. We get to see another ninja village! How awesome is that?"

"That's very exciting, Naruto. I haven't been to another hidden village since I was sitting my chuunin exams."

At this, Naruto paused for a moment, before asking "what are the chuunin exams, Isruka sensei? Why would chuunin have to do exams? I thought I'd done all my exams when I finished the academy."

"The chuunin exams aren't sat by chuunin, Naruto, they're sat to become chuunin. Genin teams like yours take part in the exams, hoping for a promotion."

"But how would an exam help figure out who's a good ninja? Shouldn't we be fighting each other to see who's stronger?"

Iruka laughed at this. "I think you'll find that fighting forms a large part of the exams."

"Awesome! I'll take the exam, and I'll kick everyone's butts! Even Sasuke's!"

"You might have to wait a bit Naruto. While Kakashi could put you forward for the next exam, most Jounin wait longer before letting their teams do exams. You want to make sure you're ready before you take part. The exams can be dangerous."

While inwardly, Iruka wanted to keep team 7 away from the danger of those exams as long as possible, he'd come to the bitter realisation that the mission they were going on now implied that both Kakashi and the Hokage would be wanting them to take part. To send a genin team to another village with information about the upcoming exams was practically an admission to the other village that these genin would be competing against their own.

Iruka was very proud of the team, but it appeared that the Hokage and Kakashi both might have more faith in them than he did himself. If the Hokage hadn't thought it likely that they would be competing, he'd never have offered Kakashi this mission. And if Kakashi weren't planning to put them forward for the exam, he'd never have accepted.

It was funny how subtle messages could be passed between the senior ninja in the mission briefing without the genin really knowing what was actually being communicated. Iruka wondered whether there were in fact any additional messages being passed that he'd missed. There might have been something in the comment about Gai's team, but he wasn't sure what it was. Maybe the Hokage was probing Kakashi about whether team 7 was as ready for the exams as Gai's team? Iruka knew there was some sort of rivalry between the two jounin, but he didn't know enough about it to understand the politics of it.

That said, the Hokage was generally pretty deliberate with what he did and didn't say. There probably was something in the comment about Gai, and comparing the two genin teams seemed the most likely option.

Iruka's reverie was interupted by Naruto claiming that he was going to be the most dangerous ninja in the exams anyway.

"You know, you might actually be right, Naruto. But being the most dangerous doesn't always help. Some of your abilities are best kept secret."

"Aww, but Iruka sensei, what if I need them in the exam?"

"Well, Naruto, if you do need them, you should use them. But only if you need them. And don't reveal your abilities to the Suna shinobi while you are there. They may be our allies, but when you sit the exams you're likely to end up fighting some of their genin. You want to keep the element of surprise."

"Ok Iruka sensei!"

* * *

Sasuke decided to fill in some time before leaving by beating another training dummy into oblivion. On the one hand, he was excited to actually go on a real mission, even if he wasn't as eager to show it as Naruto.

However, some of the Hokage's comments at the mission briefing had inwardly angered him. On the surface, specifically mentioning Sasuke as an upcoming shinobi sounded like praise. But the Hokage had been precise and cutting with the word 'involuntarily.'

As an Uchiha, he'd always been expected to excel. Sure, the teachers at the academy, and various other ninja around the vilage called him a genius, but his father only ever responded to his efforts in one of two ways - disapproval if he failed to excel, or "as expected of my son" if he didn't.

Sure, he'd managed to top the academy, but to the wider shinobi community all he was was the last Uchiha. Any real achievement was attributed to that name.

And the man he had to kill also had that name.

He needed to move beyond that. He needed to make a true name for hiself - his own, not his family's. Being the top graduate for the academy was nothing, there was one of those every year. In comparison, Naruto could already lay claim to being the genin who put an elite jounin in hospital.

As the dummy shattered with a particularly hard thrust, Sasuke figured he should head toward the gate. It hadn't taken him long to get ready. He'd mostly actually prepared the night before, given that Kakashi had indicated the likelihood of missions outside the village. Besides, the Uchiha compound had a large store of sealing scrolls, which made packing an easy task.

* * *

Kakashi looked at the three genin approaching the gate. Sasuke and Sakura had both obviously taken advantage of sealing scrolls, whereas Naruto was lugging a big backpack. He didn't seem too perturbed by it, but it would certainly slow the team down.

"Naruto, why did you bring everything in that backpack?"

"You said to pack for two weeks! That's a lot of time, so I needed a lot of stuff."

"That's not what I meant Naruto. Why did you bring it in a backpack instead of a storage scroll?"

"Storage scroll? What's that?"

Kakashi sighed. A shinobi capable of making seals by touch alone, yet he didn't know what a storage scroll was. Naruto's education was very selective, it seemed.

"It's a scroll with a seal that lets you store things in it. Maybe you should try learning how to make them, they're very useful."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at this. Seals weren't particularly easy, and Naruto wasn't particularly smart. Why would Kakashi suggest Naruto learn a seal.

"Waaaait, I think I remember reading something about them, but they weren't as cool as explosive seals."

Aha! It was explosive seals that Naruto could use. But that didn't explain how Naruto could apply tags without Kakashi or Sasuke seeing them. And just being able to make explosive tags wouldn't be something that the senior shinobi would want to keep secret. There had to be something more.

"Do you think they'd be useful Kakashi sensei?"

"Of course they would. In fact, I'll start teaching all three of you how to make them on this trip. I happen to have packed some sealing supplies that we can use when we stop for camp."

"Yatta!"


	9. Chapter 9

So I've finally come back to my fanfiction, and enjoying getting back into writing. I started out by just adding a single scene to get the ball rolling, but I have now added a bit more that felt like it belonged in the same chapter. If you read this chapter earlier when there was no Authors note, you might want to check the second scene that has been added.

* * *

"So, who can tell me how sealing works?"

Kakashi looked expectantly around the camp site, on the edge of the desert. They'd opted to stop for the night a little earlier than the halfway point to make sure that they could use the last remaining shelters of the forest before well and truly heading into the open desert.

Predictably, Naruto was the first to reply. Also predictably, the answer left a bit to be desired.

"You use chakra to write stuff, and then it does cool stuff like blowing up! Ooooh, oooh you can teleport with it too, like the fourth!"

Kakshi inwardly smirked at the hint to Naruto's abilities he unwittingly was giving his team mates - although they would probably think that Naruto was just badly explaining that the ink used in sealing was infused with chakra.

"You idiot, the only thing you really said there that differs from jutsu is that you have to write stuff. Sealing is much more complicated than that. The sealing script allows conversion of chakra from one form to another, as well as providing links to alternate dimensions."

"Wow, Sakura, you're really smart. I'm still better at it than you, though!"

"That you might be, Naruto, but Sakura still did a better job of explaining it than you. Listen to her and you might learn something. Anyway, she's correct in mentioning linking to alternate dimensions, and that is the basis of storage seals."

Sasuke, being ever logical, frowned at this. "Linking to alternate dimensions sounds like something that should be very difficult, and you are suggesting storage seals as an easy starting point. Wouldn't something like an explosive tag actually be simpler?"

"It's true that conceptually, linking dimensions is a much more difficult thing. However, most of that has been taken care of in the script used, which was developed over many generations by seal masters. Following their patterns to correctly make a kunai sealing scroll or a shuriken sealing scroll becomes relatively simple - you just need to be able to specify what needs to be able to be sealed, and how many you can seal. It's much like how the hand seals we use for jutsu have been honed over many generations to allow specific chakra conversions, like using a tiger sign to help convert the chakra in your body to fire chakra to make a fireball."

"But that still doesn't explain why an explosive tag is more complicated" Sakura interjected.

"Well, an explosive tag isn't too much more complicated in principle, but there are still a few more variables involved, like how large the explosion will be, how it will be triggered, how to stop it from triggering, whether ther are any time delays, and any other number of modifications that you can make to it. However, the biggest problem with explosive seals is what can go wrong when you are learning to make them. A failed storage seal, at worst, will not let you reclaim what you have tried to store in it. A failed explosive tag will blow up in your face."

Sakura gulped, glad that that was not where they would be starting out.

Sasuke, on the other hand, narrowed his eyes as he examined how Naruto was handling this conversation. Naruto had obviously jumped straight to explosive seals, and he didn't seem like the sort of person to get such a complicated thing as writing seals right on his first try. How did he manage to learn to make them without killing himself in the process?

Naruto still didn't seem fully convinced of the value of storage seals yet, and from what Sasuke knew about him that seemed consistent with his personality. Naruto was definitely the sort to want big flashy techniques over simple, useful ones. However, there definitely had to be some extreme resilience in the short blonde. Thinking about their spars, Sasuke noted that Naruto would keep fighting even though he would be continually receiving a beating. There was certainly a lot of stamina evident, maybe there was some innate healing ability present as well?

Sasuke's reverie was disrupted by the ever obnoxiously loud subject of his consternation. "I still don't know why storage seals are that important, Kakashi sensei. Why do I need to carry a scroll full of kunei when i can replicate them with shadow clones anyway?"

"Well, aside from the obvious benefits of storage seals while travelling, you can only clone what you are carrying on you, whereas a storage seal can be hidden in advance on the battle field for one. And a clever sealmaster can modify the storage seal to store all kinds of interesting traps. But I think this is the thing that might interest you the most..."

Kakashi paused, checking that he had his student's attention.

"They're the starting point for all space/time seals, and the fourth's signature technique was a space/time sealing technique."

Nartuo's eyes lit up at that, before Kakashi continued.

"Right, let's get started."

* * *

Kakashi glanced around at his students, carefully observing their efforts. Sakura's handwriting was immaculate, and she seemed to have very quickly learned the necessary script for the simple shuriken storage seal, but was struggling to feed it enough chakra for its initial activation. Sasuke, on the other hand, was providing plenty of chakra to activate a correctly made seal, but was being let down by small errors in the script that were increasing the chakra requirement at least tenfold.

Once the sharingan was activated Sasuke would probably be able to learn to accurately draw seals accurately just by watching Sakura, but in the meantime Kakashi could sense his mounting frustration - and the sideways glances toward Naruto demonstrated where part of that frustration lay. Sasuke was definitely struggling with the idea that he might not be the strongest genin on the team, even if he was definitely the most well rounded, skill-wise.

Naruto's efforts were the most fascinating. His script was awful. Truly awful. In fact, it looked like he could barely hold his brush properly. It certainly wasn't what you expected to see from potentially the greatest sealing prodigy since the fourth Hokage. There was a clear tension on Naruto's face, and Kakashi could tell that he wanted to throw the brush away and try to make the seal without it.

However, whenever Naruto looked like he was about to throw away the brush, he would notice a glance from Sasuke, and redouble his efforts.

The messy script on this particular seal might not actually stop Naruto from succeeding. Messier script mostly just increased the chakra required to activate the seal, and even if the required chakra increased by a factor of a thousand, Naruto would probably be able to provide it. He just needed to get his script a little bit tidier to get the efficiency to a more manageable level.

Ironically, Naruto probably was in fact better off attempting to use his own chakra to make the seal without ink. Once again, the ink was there to increase the efficiency of the seal by providing a chakra conduit, but it was still possible to make a chakra conduit out of chakra itself. Naruto's poor penmanship probably meant that he could make a more accurate chakra conduit in the shape of the script by pure chakra manipulation.

Strictly speaking, all that was actually required to make a seal was chakra and intent. The stronger the intent, the less chakra required, and the greater the understanding of the seal, the stronger the intent of the sealmaker. The ink and script was simply a catalyst that allowed seals to be made with much less chakra.

One of the major reasons why so few shinobi specialised in seals was the sizeable chakra requirement, particularly when first learning to make seals. Until a shinobi had a decent amount of practice making a seal to increase the strength and direction of their intent, they needed a significant amount of chakra to provide the initial activation. No doubt, this had been part of why the Uzumaki clan had managed to become revered in their sealing capabilities - the strength of the clan's chakra allowed their shinobi to easily overcome that starting hurdle.

Their were exceptions of course. Kakashi's own jounin sensei, the renowned fourth Hokage, had achieved great things in sealing through his own brand of intuitive genius. His understanding and intent was so strong that he had managed chakra efficiency that was unheard of prior to his rise to fame. That wasn't to say he had small chakra reserves, but he was definitely more successful with sealing than was the norm for a shinobi of his chakra levels. Of course, it helped that he was able to develop sealing scripts far beyond what previous seal masters had done to further improve his chakra efficiency.

Kakashi noted to himself that he needed to spend some one on one time examining Naruto's usage of explosive seals. In their trial battle after he got out of hospital Kakashi had (discreetly) used his sharingan to examine Naruto's methods, and there definitely was the formation of a chakra conduit. Naruto wasn't simply relying on intent and his immense chakra reserves, which made sense. While seals were technically possible with just chakra and intent, the chakra required for such a feat started to dwarf even Naruto's reserves.

That said, one of Naruto's greatest strengths seemed to be his will and determination. That probably went a long way toward providing strength of intent needed for making seals - at least for explosive tags. He didn't seem quite as convinced with storage seals.

Sasuke and Sakura probably both had a fair way to go to develop their sealing intent. For Sakura this was an intellectual curiousity, but not really something she had any passion for. The intellectual grasp was there, but not the understanding born through practice. Sasuke had a bit more drive thanks to his need to compare himself to Naruto, but didn't quite have the same intellectual understanding of the storage seal as Sakura.

Oh well, it's not like people could learn sealing overnight. Even Naruto - who managed to learn the shadow clone technique in mere hours - had taken several weeks to get his one explosive seal down. At least, based on what Iruka had reported, that is.

It was becoming clear that none of the three would be succeeding at making their swtorage seals tonight, and the genin were all becoming increasingly exhausted. It was time to stop their training for the evening and let them get some rest for the travel they still had ahead of them. Entering another hidden village, even one in an alliance with your own, was definitely something you wanted to be rested and ready for.


End file.
